It all began with Loyalty, a gangster/horror hybrid short film. Years in the
making, director Josh Townsend returns with his first feature length cinematic
journey based on real life serial killer Danny Rolling. Today we talk to
Townsend about his film The Gainesville Ripper and it's upcoming theatrical
premiere.

The Gainesville Ripper is your first feature length film. Tell
us how you began your foray into filmmaking.

I started off like everyone else, talking about making a movie
yet never getting beyond words on a page. 15 years later I manned the fuck up
and moved from Gainesville to Jacksonville, a larger town which actually had
people who were serious about making movies. I started at the bottom helping
other filmmakers with their projects, doing anything they needed whether it was
holding a boom mic or holding a cup of ice so the actresses could keep there
nipples hard (true story). I soon gained enough favors and experience to be
able to make my first serious short, "Loyalty", which played at Fantasia
in Montreal. I stopped having on/off girlfriends and made film my mistress.

When people tell me they want to make a movie I tell them to
ditch there wife/girlfriend. And I'm only half joking.

What made you decide to make a film on serial killer Danny
Rolling?

It's
always been in the back of my head. After "Loyalty", I was prepping my
next short and doing custom carpentry during the day to finance everything.
Long story short, I cut off three of my fingers one day (they got sewed back
on) and wasn't gonna be able to go back to work for at least a year so I got
serious about doing a feature.

Nobody had made a movie about Rolling and having lived through
the murders I thought I had a unique point of view.

How long did it take you to pen the script and was there much
research involved?

It took 6 or 8 months to come up with the shooting draft.
Because I just had my fingers re-attached it was physically really hard.
Actors and crew members helped with the typing. At first we were in talks with
a real Hollywood production company but they kept giving us stupid notes,
changes and additions that made the script into a two hundred page monstrosity
that I fucking hated. They changed so many facts about the case for stupid
reasons I just gave up and decided to finance it myself with my workers
compensation settlement.

Growing up in Gainesville I knew all the facts about the case so
doing the research wasn't that bad. We did go through all the old newspaper
articles and court papers because I was adamant about having correct dates and
such. Hell I'd go so far as to say that "Ripper" is the most factually correct
serial killer movie ever made. We didn't make up characters, switch dates or
make anything up that was proven fact.

Artistically it was a huge challenge because I had to make it a
cinematic experience. Rolling always claimed that he had a second evil
personality named Gemini that took over when he murdered. I decided to play on
that angle, make it sort of a psychological character study/horror flick.

During the pre-production of such a film, were you concerned with
any repercussions that might occur from the victim's families that were involved
with this case?

Definitely. I changed the names of all the victims. In the
movie we don't know anything more about the victims than Danny did. I didn't
want to portray them in a wrong way or make up a personality for them that might
in anyway be untruthful. Besides working for the story it also was a way of
diffusing any grief we might get from the families, some of whom had already
made it clear they were against the idea of us making the film.

Who played the role of this infamous killer and how did you find
a fitting match for the role?

Zachary
Memos plays Danny Rolling. We read actors from all around Florida and he was
the best, most dedicated actor we found. Zack spent countless hours studying
everything about Danny, watching video to replicate his mannerisms and voice
cadence. Zack really understood what we were trying to do. He also lives in
Gainesville and is a local TV personality, but that's really just a lucky
coincidence.

Besides acting in the movie, Zack also became a co-producer and
has been more involved in every aspect of the movie than anyone other than me.
I can't say enough good things about him, he's a great person who helped me
make a movie that we are both proud of.

During the course of shooting The Gainesville Ripper did you
experience any problems with people protesting the shoot of the film due to its
sensitive subject? Or did you have an overall welcomed reception?

I actually expected more resistance than we got. It helped that
all the interior scenes where shot here in Jacksonville on sound stages. We
only went to Gainesville to get exterior stuff and when we did shoot in town we
stayed as low key as possible.

The press we did in Gainesville right before we started filming
was pretty hardcore. The local newspaper interviewed some cops and family
members and they didn't have very nice things to say about the production. It
seemed like they were just mad because we were making it a horror film, but
really what else could it be? The crimes were so horrific that making it a
thriller or cop procedure wouldn't do justice to what really happened.

In general though, except for the press, family and cops everyone
from Gainesville has been nice and helpful. We found that the people who lived
in Gainesville at the time of the murders were extremely enthusiastic about the
production. They just wanted someone to tell their story and show how horrible
it was to live in a small college town when almost every day a new mutilated
body was found.

When they executed Rolling two years ago (right in the middle of
production by the way) Zack and I were outside the prison with all the pro-life
and pro-death people. People on both sides were keen to talk with us. The
title credit sequence at the beginning of the film is made up of footage we shot
outside the prison the day of the execution. It was a media circus. There were
dozens of news crews and hundred of people there. IÃ­ll never forget the crowd
cheering when it was announced that Rolling had been executed.

That's
a hard question to answer without sounding pretentious. "The Gainesville
Ripper" is a very personal film. I went out of my way to make it visually
and sonically original. We stayed well clear of the standard serial killer/slasher
film conventions. There are no hardboiled detectives or cops in the film. No
slutty teenage victims, no gore for the sake of gore or cats jumping into frame
to give a cheap jump scare. Fuck all that.

I'm a huge genre fan and I held myself to a higher standard than
99% of those straight-to-video flicks. There was a massive effort to make "Ripper"
different and better.

So viewers needn't worry that The Gainesville Ripper is another
Ulli Lommel-esque abomination coming our way?

Abomination is too soft of a word. I like to think about them as
Cinematic Atrocities. Those movies are just products rushed into the market
without an artistic pixel in them. He churns them out in an almost assembly
line fashion.

I really don't like to slam other filmmakers but for Ulli I'll
make an exception. Uwe Bolle is ten times the filmmaker he is and we know
thatÃ­s not saying a whole lot.

What type of horror film is The Gainesville Ripper and how
accurate are the depictions in your film to the actual events?

Everything is totally accurate and based on the forensic reports
from the Medical Examiner. Of course I didn't want to show everything and make
it an "Aftermath" or "Guinea Pig" type of film. I understand and
respect those movies but going that far wouldn't serve the story we were trying
to tell. Don't get me wrong, there is rape, graphic murder and mutilation that
pushes a possible R-rating, but I approached each murder scene in a way that
conveyed what was happening in a cinematic way without having to show every
single thing. That was one of the more artistically satisfying aspects of
making the movie.

The Gainesville Ripper took four years to make. Oftentimes
budgetary restrictions can cause a film to not even be completed at all. How
hard was it to bring your vision to life, from pre-production to
post-production?

Hardest thing I ever did. I never meant it to take four years to
complete. I've been going through Producers like toilet paper. I had a guy we
found out was a registered sex offender and guys who only cared about making
t-shirts and posters when we were struggling to get the movie finished.

Besides the regular problem of not having any money, getting
someone to really commit to making the soundtrack and audio great was the
biggest hurdle. Sound is as important as the visuals and that is where most DTV
movies skimp. After a good bit of wasted money on so-called professionals I
finally found a kindred spirit in a local musician named Hank El Diablo. He
stepped up to the plate and hit a home run for the project. Hank worked for a
year straight on not just the soundtrack but also the sound design, foley and
final mix. He's the kind of dedicated person that are one in a million. It was
like hitting the lottery. He's also a talented writer and upcoming director.
I'm excited to produce his first short film.

Who are your favorite directors and were there any cinematic
influences when shooting The Gainesville Ripper?

I read other directors in interviews and they always reference
those old school influences non-stop but rarely mention any of the great new
directors working today. Nobody makes films in a vacuum, every director is
influenced by the movies they watch and love. There are films coming out by
directors without grey hair that are every bit as good as those 70's and 80's
genre classics. The thing I love about Tarantino or Edger Wright is that they
wear their influences on their sleeves yet still manage to make totally original
films.

That said, though, Sam Peckinpah has had the greatest influence
on me. More than any other director. His attitude, style and overall career
path has had a huge impact on me. I've also learned a ton from his mistakes. I
find that one learns more from other directors mistakes than you learn from what
they did right.

Even though he's too new to have had an influence on "Ripper",
I'm keeping my eye on Srdjan Spasojevic ("A Serbian Film"). He has
potential to do some great things.

The Gainesville Ripper makes its world premiere August 29th in
Gainesville, the hometown in which the murders took place. Are you excited and
what can viewers expect?

Very Excited. Even though there aren't going to be reviewers or
buyers there, it is a huge deal for me. I was born there and spent the majority
of my life there talking about making movies. It's a great feeling to return
there after 7 years and show my first real film. I finally get to prove that I
wasn't just talking shit all those years.

Also this month is the 20th anniversary of the murders and our
premiere is really close to being shown 20 years from the day of the last
murder. Nobody believes me but I swear it's just a coincidence. We've had the
film done for a few months but I wanted to wait until the students came back
into town from summer break to have the premiere. Of course I expect to get
more flack from the local media and cops. I wouldn't be surprised if we had
some protesters. If there are, I'm going to make my own sign and join them.
Fuck it, that's the American way.

Can we expect an expanded theatrical release or DVD release in
the near future?

Of course. We're not even thinking about going theatrical. I'm
realistic and the fact is almost all limited release, non-Hollywood films are
lucky to just break even. Being able to see it at film festivals or four-wall
events like the premiere is enough to satisfy my ego.

Our plan is to start selling the movie after the Gainesville
premiere using the local press to help beef up our press kit. Waiting for the
local premiere did make us miss out on most of the cool festivals this year, but
I do have some cards up my sleeve I canÃ­t talk about right now.

We've already started conversations with a few good sized
distributors so hopefully we'll have some good options by the end of the year.

Hey Josh...I can't make it up to gainesville, but would like to review your filmwhenever it is available on DVD. I am the film critic and entertainment editorthe for the Osceola News Gazette in Kissimmee. Good luck with the premiere onSunday